Scheduled Monument
Castle Hill, fortSM8366
Status: Designated
Documents
Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).
The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.
Summary
- Date Added
- 01/11/2002
- Type
- Prehistoric domestic and defensive: fort (includes hill fort and promontory fort)
- Local Authority
- Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish
- Hutton And Corrie
- NGR
- NY 18617 92567
- Coordinates
- 318617, 592567
Description
The monument comprises the remains of an apparently unfinished fort, dating from the Iron Age.
An earthen rampart and ditch form the semicircular western defences of a fort on Castle Hill, which forms a ridge on the SE side of the valley of the Dryfe Water. The defences indicate an approximate intended internal dimension for the fort, which could be described as sub-oval on plan, of c.53m from NE to SW by c.40m transversely. They comprise a rampart, which measures about 8m in thickness by up to 1.4m in height, accompanied by a rock-cut ditch which measures up to 3.9m in breadth by 0.4m in maximum depth. There is also a low counterscarp bank, up to 4m in thickness and 0.3m in height. An original entrance lies on the SW, where the ditch is interrupted by a causeway. The mound to the SE of the entrance passage appears to be all that survives of the intended rampart on the E side of the fort; there is no evidence to suggest that either the rampart or ditch has ever continued any further. An apparent causeway across the ditch on the NW is not matched by a corresponding gap in the rampart and may indicate the presence of an earlier phase of construction. To the E of this gap, both rampart and ditch are poorly preserved, but the position of a second entrance to the fort is indicated by the bulbous E terminal of the ditch on the NE, where it corresponds with the rampart terminal on the NE. The interior contains the possible traces of at least three timber houses, indicated by low earthen banks and grooves, all c.8m in diameter internally. However, that ring-bank to the SE, immediately within the southern entrance, may be no more than the denuded remains of a later turf sheep stell. A number of low mounds of earth and stone, which extend from the E side of the SW entrance across the interior to the SE side may be associated with the modern quarry-pits immediately to the E of the fort.
The area to be scheduled comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is irregular on plan and measures a maximum of 105m from NE to SW by 88m transversely, as shown in red on the accompanying map extract.
References
Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation
About Scheduled Monuments
Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.
We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.
Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)
Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the
scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).
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